Hello, this is Minxe. This is the new chapter, written by Night.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series was written by J.K. Rowling, not Night, Mare, or me. We merely own our characters.
Chapter 9
Andrea listened as Professor Harrison Remus Lupin, their Defense against Dark Arts teacher, discussed Harry Potter's final battle against Voldemort, stifling a yawn. Everyone knew the story well enough- it was told almost like one of Beedle Bard's tales now, for goodness's sake- yet the current headmaster still refused to take it out of the curriculum, insisting that it was a "warning" against doing wrong. She studied the teacher as he dramatically told the tale.
Professor Lupin, or "Wolfie", as everyone called him behind his back, was a strange-looking mixture of werewolf, metamorphmagus, and wizard. Somewhere along the original Remus Lupin's bloodlines, that pesky werewolf gene had shown itself again, and as a result, Professor Lupin looked rather scruffy and old despite being only a mere 24. There were gray streaks in his hair, which remained as it rapidly changed from red to blue, and then to a shocking mixture of colors as he reached the story's end, exclaiming with his arms open wide.
"And Harry, with the Elder wand gripped tightly in his right hand, smote the cruel Voldemort down with that deadly and fate-deciding spell! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Lupin's hair turned to an ebony black and his eyes into a brilliant green as he spoke the words of the death spell. He made a gesture with his right hand as if he were holding the elder wand himself and stabbed the air with it.
He didn't make a half-bad Harry Potter, she mused. Minus the streaks of gray in his hair, he almost looked like a mirror image of the famous hero.
"And Voldemort clutched his chest, staring down at the place where his shriveled and withered heart should have been-"
Lupin's eyes turned a crimson red and he clutched at his chest making choking noises.
He spoke again in a hoarse croak, "-and he reached a claw-like hand to try to grasp at the air. And….he DIED!"
Lupin fell onto his knees, made a few choking noises, and keeled over, lying on the ground, motionless.
A few moments passed in utter silence and then the clapping, laughter, and whistling began as Lupin stood, running a hand through his messy hair and bowing.
Andrea rolled her eyes, though a smile tugged on her lips. If anything, the reason why Professor Lupin looked so tired was because he wore himself out with all of his dramatic re-enactments.
The noise died down as the ghost of Professor Mcgonagall slid through the wall as easily as a knife slicing through butter to give everyone in the class a reprimanding glare and move her fingers to her lips for the sign for silence.
"Professor Lupin!" she scolded in her hollow, ghostly voice which seemed to mimic the sound of the wind ruffling tree leaves.
He laughed, a youthful sound compared to his appearance, and allowed himself a sheepish grin as Professor Mcgonagall passed through the wall again.
"Too bad Harry Potter's latest descendant can't smote down anything!" someone in the room jeered.
Andrea watched as the gangly, red-eared boy with black hair and brown eyes sitting in front of her attempted to sink even further back into his chair.
"Ah! Jayce!" Professor Lupin shouted cheerfully, "fancy seeing you here. Aren't you going to say hello to your favorite cousin?"
Somewhere along the way, the family trees of Potter and Lupin had converged, so now every Potter was bound to have some Lupin blood in him and vice versa.
"Hi," she heard the boy mumble as snickers were heard throughout the room.
An enchanted paper airplane flew over her head, making a few, lazy circles before hitting Jason on the right side of his head.
He stiffened, but remained silent and slouched.
She felt a twinge of sympathy at this. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't meet the extraordinarily high standards that the students, and even some of the teachers, seemed to set for those of the Potter family. The young wizards and witches just appeared to view the Potter family as one set high above on a pedestal which they added to with all of the exaggerations about Harry Potter himself, and anyone that was part of the Potter family and only average in their magic was considered a disgrace. Jason Potter was just unlucky enough to be the Potter family's current youngest in Gryffindor.
Thunk! Thunk!
Andrea stiffened at the sudden bombardment of objects at her head, she turned to see Jonah Feldsworth, the culprit, sitting a row behind her with an innocent smile plastered onto his face and a miniature, make-shift catapult on his desk.
Jonah was from Ravenclaw, and from the evidence lying on his desk, he was definitely clever enough to be in the house, though he only seemed to use his intelligence for silly pranks.
She glared at him, her temper flaring, as he mouthed the word 'sorry' and gestured downwards and then to Jason.
Andrea glanced down to see two large textbooks lying next to her chair, probably the ammunition he'd used. Now she truly was tempted to throw them- but not at Jason, but in the other direction- at Jonah.
Professor Lupin had apparently caught wind of what had happened by now, and had began reprimanding Jonah, searching his messy desk and drawers for a blank and un-crumpled detention slip.
She leaned over to reach the books, grasping one and hefting it in one hand as she reached another hand to touch the place on the back of her head where the large books had hit.
She lifted the book up with caution, wondering if Jonah had gone as far as to hide some sort of spell or charm in the book that would activate as soon as it was opened, read, or perhaps even touched. It would be very like him to do something like that. Andrea flicked her wand against it, breathing out a spell.
"Finite Incantatem."
Andrea studied the book for any sort of change, and finding none, she placed it on her desk, along with the other book after casting another Finite Incantatem spell on it as well.
In her annoyance and anger, she wondered if she should cast a little vengeance spell on the books before giving them back…
"Perhaps a Flagrante curse," she mused as she allowed herself a moment to imagine the consequences her little bit of revenge would bring as she brushed some dirt off of one of the books. But of course, she wouldn't perform any of the vengeances she was currently imagining. She would probably end up expelled for harming another student and it would do her no good to have the Ravenclaw prankster become her enemy
She shuddered.
She would probably never get a sound sleep in the Ravenclaw girls' dorm again.
But of course, small, unexplainable things would be alright…. She allowed herself this petty thought as she examined the books.
One of the books was just a rather plain and ordinary Herbology textbook, but the other was fancier with a leather-bound cover and golden lettering which spelled out "Theories of the Worlds."
Andrea opened the book, stilling her flash-pan temper with a few calming breaths, flipping through the first few pages of the table of contents until she reached the introduction.
Though many wizards deny the possibility, I truly believe that there exists not just one world, but many. Every world must have a start. So how did ours start? My theory is that our world was not the first, and compared to the others, our world may still be young. There could exist many other worlds, where their magic is different. Some wizards even claim they have seen such worlds, or for a moment, stepped into a place otherworldly, a place so strange it cannot belong to our world. Some have even seen other worlds in their dreams, or have some memory of a distant land yet cannot remember where the memory came from. Some wizards have other magic as well, magic wilder, less controlled than magic performed with a wand. Unexplainable magic. It can appear in any moment, in the strangest forms, it is otherworldly magic, magic carried through blood throughout the generations of those who once came here from other lands. It weakens, sputters like a flame, yet sometimes, it does spring up, like a wildfire, in some generations.
She shut the book. Just some crack-pot wizard's jibber-jabber in an attempt to become famous. Andrea tapped its golden latch. She could probably bet that Jonah had only bought this book to use as his catapult's ammunition. It was certainly heavy and hard enough with its metal latches and thick leather binding.
But still…she paused in her tapping. Some of the words did ring true.
Unexplainable magic…
She could practically see that bright, otherworldly light again…
Andrea shook her head furiously. What had happened with Krynne, Wabi, and Marcus, had probably been the sunlight, or perhaps the sun glinting off of some unnoticeable piece of metal or glass on the floor. Or perhaps Marcus or some other student's idea of a prank.
She directed her attention to the front of the room to see that Professor Lupin was now scribbling the homework onto the chalkboard in messy, unreadable handwriting.
She quietly cursed Jonah under her breath for making her lose her concentration as she attempted to decipher Professor Lupin's handwriting.
Andrea concentrated on the white scrawls against the black board, and finally, sighing, she tapped Jason on the shoulder.
"Jason," she whispered, receiving no response.
"Just ignore all the haters, Jayce," she heard his friend, a blonde witch by the name of Lauren, murmur to him.
"I just want the homework," she whispered, feeling slightly annoyed. She'd prefer not to ask Jonah, and there was no one sitting next to her.
Why did it have to be Gryffindor and Ravenclaw double period Defense against Dark Arts? There was almost no one near her to ask. There was, of course, Krynne, but Krynne seemed to prefer to sit in the back, while Andrea preferred the middle or front.
"4-page report on the 3 deadly hallows. Answer the question why they are important in history and how they shaped wizard history and if they are truly good or bad," Lauren whispered back, "now leave poor Jason alone."
She scribbled it down, and out of politeness, muttered a quick thanks, shoving her books back into her bag and knocking over Jonah's Herbology textbook in the process.
Andrea picked it up, scowling at the notion of handing the 2 books back to him. She picked it up, examining the page it was open at, scanning over its words quickly.
Ash trees are known for their magical and healing properties, which makes wands made out of these woods especially good for magic…
She closed the book. That was common knowledge in Hogwarts. Yet where had she heard something like that before? Her eyes lit up in remembrance. The prophecy.
"She will wield a wand of fiery heart and healing wood…" she murmured to herself.
Fiery heart, a wand's "heart" could mean the wand-core. A wand-core related to the element of fire would be dragon heartstring. What other creature was so renowned for its breath of fire? And healing wood had to be ash!
She pushed the rest of her books into her bag, shoving Jonah's books back into his surprised hands as she rushed out of the room as class ended.
"Thanks, Jonah!" she shouted over her shoulder at his stunned face as she ran to catch up with Krynne.